WEBVTT - How Does Jane Elliott's Blue Eyes/Brown Exercise Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. For the past fifty two years,

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<v Speaker 1>teacher and diversity trainer Jane Elliott has been stirring up

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<v Speaker 1>trouble on the subject of racism. It can still be

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<v Speaker 1>uncomfortable to squirm in your seat, stare at your shoes,

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<v Speaker 1>uncomfortable when she subjects someone to the very same exercise

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<v Speaker 1>she first unleashed on third graders more than half a

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<v Speaker 1>century ago, but designed to expose racist thinking. Something her

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<v Speaker 1>method can get downright mean. But again, the subject is racism,

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<v Speaker 1>it should be troubling. Elliott came to prominence when, the

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<v Speaker 1>day after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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<v Speaker 1>In she, herself a white woman, took her classroom of

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<v Speaker 1>all white third graders in Riceville, Iowa, and decided to

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<v Speaker 1>teach them what it was like to face discrimination. She

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<v Speaker 1>separated the kids into two groups, those with brown eyes

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<v Speaker 1>and those with blue and proceeded to proclaim the brown

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<v Speaker 1>eyes the superior group. She allowed the group extra privileges,

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<v Speaker 1>more time at recess seats at the front of the room.

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<v Speaker 1>They were told they were cleaner, smarter, more talented, how

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<v Speaker 1>the children reacted to this newfound pecking order was startling.

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<v Speaker 1>The brown eyed group immediately began to wield their dominance.

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<v Speaker 1>The blue eyes almost immediately slipped into the role of subordinates.

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<v Speaker 1>Anger flared disputes popped up after switching roles a few

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<v Speaker 1>days later, which gave both sides of the classroom a

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<v Speaker 1>taste of being in the lesser group. The exercise ended.

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<v Speaker 1>Many parents complained after reading about what had happened in

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<v Speaker 1>Elliott's classroom through student essays printed in the local paper.

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<v Speaker 1>A month or so later, Johnny Carson invited Elliott to

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<v Speaker 1>appear on his late night talk show. She became a

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<v Speaker 1>national story. Many praised her efforts at opening her students eyes,

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<v Speaker 1>but not everybody. A two five stories Maisonian magazine reported

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<v Speaker 1>hundreds of viewers wrote letters saying Elliot's work appalled them.

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<v Speaker 1>How dare you try this cruel experiment out on white children?

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<v Speaker 1>One said, Black children grow up accustomed to such behavior,

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<v Speaker 1>but white children, there's no way they could possibly understand it.

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<v Speaker 1>It's cruel to white children and will cause them great

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<v Speaker 1>psychological damage. Elliott spoke with us for the article that

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<v Speaker 1>this episode is based on from her home in Iowa.

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<v Speaker 1>She said, you think that's traumatizing, try living that way

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<v Speaker 1>for a lifetime. Elliott taught for years before she decided

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<v Speaker 1>to take her anti racism lesson out of the classroom

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<v Speaker 1>and into corporate America. She's also led the exercise for

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<v Speaker 1>the U. S Department of Education and other governmental groups.

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<v Speaker 1>She's appeared before numerous church and school assemblies. She was

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<v Speaker 1>on Oprah Winfrey's TV show several times. In June, she

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<v Speaker 1>appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. She often

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<v Speaker 1>faces uncomfortable and sometimes angry reactions, but her goal, as

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<v Speaker 1>it has been for the past fifty two years, is education.

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<v Speaker 1>She says it's the best weapon against racism, but good

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<v Speaker 1>education about racism and race is hard to find. Elliott

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<v Speaker 1>said that's because the educators believed the same thing that

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<v Speaker 1>they were taught, and they were taught the same thing

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<v Speaker 1>that I was, which is that there are three or

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<v Speaker 1>four different races, and you can tell what a man's

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<v Speaker 1>intelligence is by the color of his skin or the

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<v Speaker 1>shape of his head. You can't lead people out of

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<v Speaker 1>ignorance if you're still teaching. The Columbus discovered America, and

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<v Speaker 1>we came here to civilize these savages. We need to

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<v Speaker 1>teach the three rs of rights, respect, and responsibility. If

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<v Speaker 1>teachers would respect the rights of those students to learn

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<v Speaker 1>the truth and be held responsible for seeing that they

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<v Speaker 1>present them with the truth, we could kill racism in

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<v Speaker 1>two generations. There's not a doubt in my mind that

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<v Speaker 1>that could be done. Elliott, at eight seven years old,

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<v Speaker 1>has seen America grapple with racism all her life. She's

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<v Speaker 1>marked major mile posts in the struggle over the past

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<v Speaker 1>fifty years or so, the Civil rights movement and the

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<v Speaker 1>assassination of Dr King in the sixties. The race. It's

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<v Speaker 1>in Miami's Liberty City in eight and in Los Angeles

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<v Speaker 1>after Rodney King beating in the protests, in Ferguson, Missouri,

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<v Speaker 1>in after the killing of Michael Brown, and in Baltimore,

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<v Speaker 1>Maryland after that of Freddy Gray, and in Charleston, South

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<v Speaker 1>Carolina that same year after a church massacre. There are

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<v Speaker 1>many others, but the problem she has been relentlessly attacking,

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<v Speaker 1>Elliott says, goes far beyond the occasional race based flora.

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<v Speaker 1>For people of color in the United States, facing down

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<v Speaker 1>racism is an everyday fight, every minute of every day

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<v Speaker 1>Elliott said, it's only been going on with me for

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<v Speaker 1>fifty two years. I know black women who have been

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<v Speaker 1>doing this for eighty nine years, and their mothers did,

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<v Speaker 1>and their grandmothers did, and their great grandmothers did, and

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<v Speaker 1>their daughters and their granddaughters and their great granddaughters are

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<v Speaker 1>going to have to do it unless we get off

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<v Speaker 1>our polly unsaturated fatty acids and do something about this.

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<v Speaker 1>I get paid to talk about it. They aren't even

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<v Speaker 1>allowed to talk about out it. One of the biggest

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<v Speaker 1>hurdles in educating people about racism in the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>Elliott says, is that most everyone knows it exists and

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<v Speaker 1>knows that it's harmful, but few are motivated to change it.

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<v Speaker 1>She has stood in front of classes and asked who

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<v Speaker 1>among the white people in the room would want to

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<v Speaker 1>switch places with the black person. No one ever volunteers.

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<v Speaker 1>She cautions that recognizing the problem is only the first step,

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<v Speaker 1>but Elliott is nothing if not persistent. She says she'll

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<v Speaker 1>continue to educate for the next fifty years. She'll push

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<v Speaker 1>her mantra of one race. The science behind the simple

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<v Speaker 1>words is clear. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute,

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<v Speaker 1>your genome the body's blueprint that contains all of your

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<v Speaker 1>DNA is nine percent the same as every human around you,

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<v Speaker 1>And she says she will urge people to get out

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<v Speaker 1>and vote this November and hope of electing leaders who

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<v Speaker 1>will attack racism as she has head on m. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode was written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler

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<v Speaker 1>clay Or. More on this and lots of other topics.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is production

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